How Would A Well-Armed Citizenry Have Changed History? (state, years, attack)
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What's most likely to happen is you get a few extremists who will shoot anything, and the bulk of the population sitting on their butts complaining about it.
The thesis would suggest that any "well armed citizenry" is backing the noble side of the dispute.
They could be the Minutemen....or they could be a lynch mob. They could be catching a crook, or gunning down an abortion doctor.
A well armed citizenry was a concept which had viability in an age before there were regular police forces and national guards. Frontier life sometimes required frontier justice because there was no alternative available. That is no longer the case and some people never seem to have made the adjustment. The do it yourself justice days are over.
You can hold to that sentiment as long as you want but when SHTF I will be with my fellow countrymen willing to dish out some frontier justice. You seem to be happy with your rights in their possession. Not this kid.
The "well-regulated militia" in the USA is laughably non-existent. It has no chain of command, no roster of available fighting men, no inventory of arms, no logistical infrastructure, no mobilization readiness. The US Well Regulated Militia, defending the citizenry against abuse and misconstruction of the Constitution, is probably the most rag-tag militia in the history of the world. It wouldn't last ten minutes against any Swat Team, much less the Pentagon with almost half the military force of the entire planet trained and armed, standing by on alert, in possession of technological weaponry at the ready beyond even the imagination of the Militia.
The above paragraph would not be too far off the mark, in describing practically any conceivable citizens' defense corps in any country, past or present.
Unclear what you're talking about? Are you referring to the National Guard which is a volunteer group made up of local citizens?
You can hold to that sentiment as long as you want but when SHTF I will be with my fellow countrymen willing to dish out some frontier justice. You seem to be happy with your rights in their possession. Not this kid.
What precisely are you anticipating which would justify your declaring yourself the law and dishing out frontier justice as you see fit? What is it that you think will be hitting the fan?
Also....would it be okay with you if others, with their interpretation of frontier justice which is different from yours, made a preemptive strike by gunning you down? If you support the right to take matters into your own hands based on your own judgment, how could you deny this to anyone else? What happens when they decide that you are the SHTF?
Instead of reconstructing a what-if history, it might me more instructive to postulate a what-if future. Americans are guaranteed, and avail themselves pretty broadly of, a right to bear arms. Can anybody imagine, however fantastic, a scenario in which the American people would fall to a brutal despot (from within or without) but for their prior right to arm and defend themselves -- based on any feasible historical analog, or even one from a comic book? Or, the citizenry of any other country on the planet?
Instead of reconstructing a what-if history, it might me more instructive to postulate a what-if future. Americans are guaranteed, and avail themselves pretty broadly of, a right to bear arms. Can anybody imagine, however fantastic, a scenario in which the American people would fall to a brutal despot (from within or without) but for their prior right to arm and defend themselves -- based on any feasible historical analog, or even one from a comic book? Or, the citizenry of any other country on the planet?
Not really. If we ever have "a brutal despot" we will have elected them democratically and would be able to also impeach him/her if there were grounds to do so.
Not really. If we ever have "a brutal despot" we will have elected them democratically and would be able to also impeach him/her if there were grounds to do so.
Well... I am loath to invoke Godwin's Law but... Hitler was democratically elected.
The Chinese also had the Cultural Revolution. Can't use them as an example of anything. Chinese culture is too different.
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